FAREWELL TO THE S.S. CONSTITUTION
By Shawn J. Dake

I have long held on to the belief that the only dignified end to a ship, a great lady of the sea, is to be towed out to sea and sunk. No great chains dragging the hulk of what was once a proud liner, onto the beaches of a distant foreign land, to be burned out and cut up by blowtorches for scrap metal. Perhaps, it is simply better to disappear; to be left as only fond memories, by the people whose lives the great ship has touched.

Such was the fate of the beautiful s.s. CONSTITUTION. While on her way to a distant scrapyard in the Far East, the ship took the shorter route to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. About 700 miles north of Honolulu, Hawaii, the ship began taking on water, and on November 17, 1997, slipped beneath the waves and into history.

The CONSTITUTION was 46 years old at the time of her sinking. The ship was launched on September 16, 1950 from the building yard of Bethlehem Steel Company in Quincy, Massachusetts. At the time of her maiden voyage on June 25, 1951, just six months after that of her sistership s.s. INDEPENDENCE, she was justifiably considered to be the finest example of an American flag ship of the post-war era. With her fine lines, beautifully proportioned twin funnels, and graceful counter stern (the last to be built on a major passenger ship), she was a credit to her operators, the American Export Line of New York. Just a year and nine days later however, her glory would be eclipsed by the maiden voyage of the speed queen s.s UNITED STATES. Yet from 1951 until 1968, she would sail on, crossing the Atlantic along the "Sunlane to the Mediterranean", along with periodic cruising, carrying on the tradition of what her owners billed as "American living goes to sea."

The CONSTITUTION proved to be a profitable and popular ship. Even more so than her sistership INDEPENDENCE, she was destined to capture the public's imagination and newspaper headlines. She would also become well known as a star of film and television. Among her best known roles was as the vessel that brought Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr together, and across the Atlantic to New York in the motion picture "An Affair To Remember". And on the small screen, she gained added publicity in episodes of the "I Love Lucy" television program. But her most famous role was as the ship that took the beautiful actress Grace Kelly, to marry her Prince in Monaco; a fairy tale romance if there ever was one. In the late years of the ship's career, there would even be a Princess Grace Room on board, situated on the Promenade Deck between the lounge and the showroom.

The ship was designed by Henry Dreyfuss, and while not flashy, was certainly built for comfort and style. As originally built, she carried exactly 1,000 passengers in three classes; First class 295, Cabin class 375, and Tourist class 330. The ship was 683 feet in length with an 89 foot beam. Gross tonnage was most frequently quoted as 30,090 after her 1959 rebuilding. The rebuild increased her first class capacity to 484 passengers. Propulsion was by twin screws from geared steam turbines supplied by her builders. This produced a cruising speed of 23 knots, with a maximum speed over 26 knots, extremely fast for a ship of this size. Partnered with the second set of "Four Aces", EXOCHORDA, EXCAMBION, EXCALIBUR and EXETER, along with her sister the INDEPENDENCE and later the ATLANTIC, American Export Lines provided formidable American competition on the Italian dominated Mediterranean service.

The Trans-Atlantic trade had drastically declined for all steamship lines by the mid 1960's, and the CONSTITUTION was not immune from the encrochment of jet aircraft. By 1968, she was only operating cruises and in September of that year she was laid up. The ship languished in obscurity for 5 1/2 years at Jacksonville, Florida. Finally, in January of 1974, Taiwanese shipping giant C.Y. Tung, owner of Orient Overseas Line, bought the ship and registered her in Monrovia, Liberia under the banner of Atlantic Far East Lines, Inc. Mr. Tung had a real affinity for American built passenger ships. However the economic realities of the day, prompted by the so-called oil shortage doomed his current venture to failure. The ship remained laid up in the Far East, and unchanged except for a renaming to OCEANIC CONSTITUTION. There was a real chance the ship might never sail again. But in 1980, C.Y. Tung, who as a foreign citizen could not own or operate U.S. Flag cruise ships, created a firm he called American Global Line which was placed under the ownership of his children who were U.S. citizens. Special legislation was enacted which allowed the now foreign flag OCEANIC INDEPENDENCE, as that ship had been renamed, to once again raise the American flag. With the marketing name of American Hawaii Cruises, service started in June, 1980 with 7-Day cruises around the Hawaiian Islands from Honolulu. With the initial cruises being relatively successful, the CONSTITUTION regained her original name, with a re-christening by Princess Grace herself, and in June of 1982 joined her sister in the Hawaiian cruise trade. Her passenger capacity was now 800 in one class. Initially the ship departed from the Aloha Tower at 10:00pm on Sundays, calling at Nawiliwili, Kauai, then to Kona and Hilo on the big island of Hawaii, followed by an overnight stay at Kahului, Maui with the final afternoon spent cruising by the island of Molokai before returning to Honolulu. With slight variations, this would remain her cruising pattern for well over a decade. There were only occassional interuptions for Trans-Pacific crossings in the winter to Los Angeles and San Francisco. The CONSTITUTION made her maiden call at the port of Los Angeles on the evening of December 8, 1983.

Competing in the cruise industry is difficult at best, and it must be particularly so with ships over 40 years old and registered under the U.S. Flag. By the mid 1990's American Hawaii was in serious trouble. After forcing their one competitor, Aloha Pacific Cruises with their s.s. MONTEREY, out of the market and into bankruptcy in 1989, the company now found themselves bankrupt. Out of money and time, the American Hawaii Cruises was sold in 1995 to the Delta Queen Steamboat Company, who put the combined companies under the title of American Classic Voyages. The INDEPENDENCE was sent to Newport News for an extensive refurbishment. The result was huge cost overruns, delivery delays and lawsuits filed by both the ship owners and the shipyard. The CONSTITUTION was scheduled for a similar refurbishment but due to the dispute, a West Coast shipyard was selected and the ship sailed to Portland, Oregon without passengers. It would be her final voyage. After an extensive survey, and partly owing to the owner's financial status, it was determined that it would not be economical to bring the CONSTITUTION up to SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) standards, and the refurbishment was cancelled. The old ship remained in layup at Portland while parts were canibalized for use in her sister which had resumed sailing in Hawaiian waters. Finally in October, 1997, American Classic Voyages announced that they had entered into an agreement to sell the vessel for scrap. An unconfirmed report suggested that other parties in the Far East might be interested in reconditioning the vessel for further service once it arrived in Asia. The facts are that on November 5, 1997, the CONSTITUTION was towed from Portland by the ocean-going Chinese tug DE DA. The tug's crew told the U.S. Coast Guard that they cut their tow loose after observing that the ship was taking on water. Twelve days after leaving port for the last time, the ship was on the bottom of the sea.

It is not known whether the ship was insured for more than her scrap value. It is also not known what her final destination would have been. From any point of view, she did in fact reach her final destination 700 miles north of the waters she once cruised in the final days of her long career. Thank goodness for the films, the photographs, and the recollections of passengers and crew members of this splendid ship. May she rest in her element, and live on in our memories. 

S.S. CONSTITUTION 1951 - 1997

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